14th/15th January 2020 - Arriving in Entebbe

Arrived ‪around 10am local time (3 hrs ahead of GMT) feeling a bit gritty eyed and tired.  It had obviously been raining and was very humid.  All the plane windows steamed over so we couldn’t see a thing when we were taxiing in to the airport.

Immigration was a breeze.  We went straight to the “visa applied for in advance” booths and handed over our acceptance letter and passport.  Apart from asking for our flight number, that was it and he printed off a visa and stuck it in our passports after taking a photo.  No finger prints required either.  We were given a health form to fill in prior to landing which we had to hand in when we entered the airport building.  The official hardly looked at it and just checked our yellow fever certificates against the names on the form.  The health form must have been photocopied at least a hundred times as was very poor quality but was basically asking you about Ebola and your exposure to it.

Agama Lizard

We then had to have all our luggage X-rayed before leaving the restricted area and then met our guide who is called Shindishi, which apparently means lucky in Swahili.  He drove us 1 km to our hotel and then gave us an hour and a half briefing that we could have done without as are all tired and not really concentrating at all.  It sounds like a lot of early morning starts though.  There are some beautiful Agama lizards in the hotel grounds.

It seems we are woefully ill equipped for the chimpanzee trekking which could take 6 hours tramping through the jungle which is probably going to be very muddy and is full of poisonous plants and vicious ants.  We need long trousers and socks which you tuck the trousers into plus a long-sleeved shirt.  My long trousers are thick jeans, I have no long socks, Chris has no long-sleeved shirt and turned down the offer of one of mother’s blouses, which I’m sure wouldn’t fit anyway.  Neither of us want to ruin our walking boots either.  So, we’re going shopping with Shindishi imminently to see if we can find some cheap clothes and wellies.  If not, we might give the chimpanzee trekking a miss!!

View from our balcony

We have beautiful views from our balcony overlooking Lake Victoria.  As we came to land in Entebbe, we both registered that the soil is very red (aka Algarve), there were lots of bananas and palms and the houses all had corrugated iron roofs - either silver or dark red.

Went to the bank and got some local currency for tipping and then on to Victoria shopping mall.  Not much choice!!  C bought a bright red checked shirt which definitely won’t help him blend into the jungle.  I bought some cheap plimsolls and expensive Colombia trousers and shirt, which I look awful in.  The trousers are about 18 inches too long but will just roll them up and tuck them into the airline socks.

Think we’ll have drinkies and an early dinner as have to be ready to leave at 8am tomorrow.  Am wavering on whether I can be bothered to get up early for breakfast or whether a lie in seems more appealing.  Certainly, I’m leaning towards the latter at the moment.